Although the present invention may be used with many different types and sizes of pumps, the present invention is particularly useful with miniature or micro disposable pumps. One application for such a pump is in the delivery of insulin.
One type of miniature or micro pump utilizes a piston to push a volume of liquid defined by the volume (bore x stroke) of the piston and the volume of an accompanying diaphragm. A dose of the liquid, for example insulin, is said for purposes of discussion, to equal the volume of liquid expelled in one delivery stroke of the piston.
One characteristic of a miniature pump is that the piston diaphragm assembly requires extremely high manufacturing tolerances in order to generate a reproducible dose volume from one pump to the next. For example, with a typically sized miniature piston type pump the volume of the dose will vary by 0.5% per 1/10000 inch of variation in the stroke length. The stroke length is determined by the linear dimensions of three separate components, the piston, the cylinder, and the diaphragm, each of which has tolerances over 1/10000 inch. A coincidence of maximum variation in each of these components would result in a dose volume variation of ±15% from the nominal value. Additional tolerances associated with the diaphragm diameter and the piston head diameter further compound the problem.
Given that some applications of such a pump involve drug delivery, delivering a dose volume that is the same from pump to pump is non trivial. This is especially true in the case of disposable pumps, where a pump is regularly replaced with another pump of the same model. Regardless of the application of the pump, it is desirable to accommodate manufacturing tolerances and produce repeatable pumps with accurate dosage delivery.